Ted certainly is one of the more knowledgable individuals about Darnes and I value his knowledge and opinions but my experience with the Stoeger era Darnes is not that bad. I purchased my first an R10 12 gauge 65cm in 1974. It was a well made shotgun, functioned superbly and except for the quality of wood of which I learned to appreciate 20 years later, a great gun. As the years past I eventually acquired a 20 gauge R10 which was a virtual match to the 12 gauge R10 except it had a butt plate instead of recoil pad. It was not marked as to importer. In the intervening years i looked at and personally handled every Darne I came across. Many were European guns evidenced by 16 gauge and sling swivels, well used and not for me. I attempted to contact the Importer in Victoria Texas for years without any sucess wanting a higher grade gun. Eventually Ted's name came to me through this forum and Ted ordered me a 16 gauge R11 Bruchet/Darne. The wood work was excellent but frankly if I put the barrels from a Stoeger and the Bruchet upside down side by side, it was hard to discern and difference in the metal work. After all the years I eventually concluded the best Darne for me was a 12 gauge with pad. I then purchased an R15 12 gauge, Stoeger marked and except for the wood was almost as nice as the Bruchet and certainly better than many of the Victoria marked guns I had seen.
I mostly use the 16 gauge Bruchet Darne because of its unique double trigger that will fire the barrels sequentially with the front trigger. I would purchase a new 28 gauge 'Mono' but the EURO/$ prohibits me from doing so, the value just is not there.
I would not exclude a Stoeger era Darne from acquisition but as with any fine double, evaluate each example on its own merits.-Dick
Last edited by Dick_dup1; 02/10/08 11:42 AM.
